7 Years
by Repeat
Summary: [chaptered song fic]It's been seven years since the strike, and where are the newsies now? [rated G for now]


A/N: Hey everyone! Repeats here, and this is my first ever chaptered song- fic. Each chapter will be about a different newsie and where is his now, and then I think I might have them meet up again, but I'm not sure yet. I'm trying to figure out how to get italics to show up on ff.n, so if any of you know then please tell me. Hope you all enjoy!  
  
**Disclaimer: I've written tons of letters, but the greedy people at Disney just won't share our beloved newsies!** The lyrics are Back Home, by Yellowcard.  
  
I finally went home, back where I grew up. I never thought I would, not after the strike. I couldn't leave then, I had too much to do, too many things left unsaid. But I knew that I had to go back. The way I remember it, it was just so beautiful. And everything's bigger there too, - the desert, the sky, the sun. I didn't have a reason for going back, not really. But I still went.  
  
Don't know  
  
What I was looking for when I went home  
  
I found me alone  
  
Sometimes  
  
I need someone to say  
  
You'll be all right, What's on your mind?  
  
I thought I would love it here, but I was wrong. Here, I'm all alone. I can never get used to that, not ever. In New York, I always had someone. There was always someone there to help me, ask me what's wrong, or to just pal around with. But not here. There isn't any one here. It's just me.  
  
Don't get me wrong, it is beautiful here. It really is how they say, - everything is bigger. The guys would love to see it, I know it. If they could just stand under the sun, feel the warmth on their faces, and see the horses running, the open plains.... there's nowhere like it, especially not New York.  
  
Another sunny day in Santa Fe.  
  
I'm sure back home they'd love to see it  
  
But they don't know that what you love is ripped away  
  
Before you get a chance to feel it.  
  
Back home  
  
I always thought I wanted so much more  
  
Now I'm not too sure  
  
Cause sometimes  
  
I miss knowing someone's there for me  
  
And feeling free.  
  
When I was in New York, I thought there was something more. Something important, that was always there, only just out of reach. I thought that what I was looking for was in Santa Fe. Where else would it be? But now I'm not too sure. Because I'm alone here.  
  
I don't mean to say that I'm the only one here, obviously. I got a job at a ranch. My boss, he's okay. He lets me stay in the spare room in his house, and the people who work here are nice. The smile politely, and talk with the other guys around the stables, but when the day is done, they go home to their families. They aren't really united, they're just... apart. Like there's a line separating them from each other. If there was ever a problem, I couldn't count on them to watch my back, not like the newsies did.  
  
And there's something else too. I'm not free here.  
  
Free to stand on the roof in moonlight  
  
And light myself a smoke beneath the dark Pacific sky  
  
There's a curfew here. There was at the lodging house too, but Kloppman never really insisted on it. He knew that we were just kids, and we had to have the freedom to roam around, and to just grow up. I suppose that they enforce the curfew here because we aren't kids... not anymore. It has been seven years. But sometimes, I feel just like that seventeen year old kid, ready to take on the world.  
  
Just another day in Santa Fe  
  
I'm sure back home they'd love to see it  
  
But they don't know that what you love is ripped away  
  
Before you get a chance  
  
Before you get a chance to feel it  
  
Another sunny day beneath this cloudless sky  
  
Sometimes I wish that it would rain here  
  
And wash the west coast dreamin' from my eyes  
  
There's nothing real for me to see here  
  
Sometimes I just want it to rain here. The weather's so perfect all the time, but I'm tired of perfect. I miss those cloudy days in New York, where it rains all day and you can hear the drips on the roof when you go to bed. I miss home. Some times I think about going back there, but I can't. Not with how I left. They would never take me back. But still... sometimes, when I'm looking up at the stars, I can't help but wonder where they are now, and if they ever think about me, like I think about them.  
  
Another starry night in Santa Fe  
  
I'm sure back home they'd love to see it  
  
But they don't know that what you love is ripped away  
  
Before you get a chance  
  
Before you get a chance to feel it.  
  
BEFORE YOU REVIEW: There is an effort being made to get a newsies reunion on VH1. If you're interested in supporting this, email nightbreeze17@aol.com  
  
Didja like it? Or think it was horrible? It's ok if you did. Just tell me what you thought. See that little button that says 'Go'? Just hit it and type on the keyboard. Well, what are you waiting for? Review already! 


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